Place of Creation: Santa Barbara, California, USA
Print Date: 2013, printed by K. Cooper and Lucien Clergue
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Edition: 12/30 PF
Reference: 02004/34
Signature: Signed and dedicated "Pour Bernard!" on recto; inscribed on verso with title, place, date, reference number, edition number, and copyright note by the artist.
Verso Inscription: "Californienne / Santa Barbara / 2002 / Ref. 02004/34 / ex 12/30 PF"
See also handwritten inscriptions including:
"2013 by Lucien Clergue / Printed 2013 by K. Cooper and L. Clergue / Reproduction prohibited"
Provenance: To be confirmed; according to the present note, the dedication is to Bernard, a French publisher and friend of Clergue
Californienne extends Lucien Clergue's most recognizable approach to the nude: through a concentrated composition, luminous gelatin-silver tonality, and strong contrasts of light and shadow, the female body is transformed into an abstract formal structure. The striped shadows cast by blinds or curtains fall across the curved surface of the body, making light not merely descriptive but a primary agent in shaping form and rhythm. The rounded contour of the waist and hips echoes Clergue's sustained fascination with curves, sensuality, and sculptural presence, giving the figure an almost architectural order. Dedicated to Bernard, the print also carries a personal dimension of friendship and artistic exchange.
Lucien Clergue (1934-2014) was one of the major French photographers of the second half of the twentieth century. Born in Arles, he remained deeply connected throughout his life to both the city and the landscape of the Camargue. His work spans nudes, beach nudes, bullfighting, Mediterranean landscapes, portraits of artists, and artist's books, and is especially noted for transforming the body, the shoreline, light, and curvature into a highly formal and poetic black-and-white language. In 1955, he met Pablo Picasso and developed a lasting friendship with him; he also maintained close ties with literature, music, theatre, and the visual arts, which gave his photography a distinctly interdisciplinary character.

In 1970, Clergue worked with Michel Tournier and Jean-Maurice Rouquette to launch the Rencontres d'Arles, helping turn Arles into one of the world's major centers of photographic culture. In 2006, he entered the photography section of the Academie des Beaux-Arts, becoming the first photographer elected to that dedicated seat, and in 2013 he served as President of the Academie. As an artist, publisher, and cultural advocate, Clergue not only shaped a major strand of postwar French art photography through his own images, but also left a lasting mark on the history of photography in Arles and in Europe more broadly.